# The Blasters
**The Blasters** are an American rock and roll band formed in 1979 in [Downey, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/downey-california), by brothers Phil Alvin (vocals and guitar) and Dave Alvin (guitar), with bassist John Bazz and drummer Bill Bateman[1](https://www.aaemusic.com/artist/the-blasters/). The band mixed blues, rockabilly, country, R&B, and early rock and roll, a blend they called simply American Music, and became a fixture of the Los Angeles punk-era scene of the early 1980s through a series of critically acclaimed albums and relentless touring[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-blasters-mn0000757177).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1979 in Downey, California[1](https://www.aaemusic.com/artist/the-blasters/) |
| Original lineup | Phil Alvin (vocals, harmonica, guitar), Dave Alvin (guitar), John Bazz (bass), Bill Bateman (drums)[3](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bbioshort.html) |
| Later members | Gene Taylor (piano), Lee Allen (tenor saxophone), Steve Berlin (baritone saxophone)[3](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bbioshort.html) |
| Studio albums | American Music (1980), The Blasters (1981), Non Fiction (1983), Hard Line (1985)[4](https://elmoremagazine.com/2015/01/influences/phil-and-dave-alvin) |
| Signature songs | "Marie Marie," "American Music," "Border Radio," "So Long Baby Goodbye," "Long White Cadillac"[5](https://news.pollstar.com/2002/10/07/blastin-off/) |
| British hit | Shakin' Stevens's cover of Dave Alvin's "Marie Marie" reached #19 on the U.K. charts[6](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bhist.html) |
| Dave Alvin's departure | April 1986 per the band's own history page; other references date the breakup to 1985[6](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bhist.html) • [7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/blasters) |
## Musical education
The Alvin brothers learned their music directly from working blues and R&B musicians. As teenagers they made frequent trips to Los Angeles venues such as the Shrine Auditorium, where they saw Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, and [Albert King](https://www.edgepedia.org/albert-king), and the Ash Grove folk club, where they saw [Lightnin' Hopkins](https://www.edgepedia.org/lightnin-hopkins), Johnny Shines, Gary Davis, Johnny Guitar Watson, and [T-Bone Walker](https://www.edgepedia.org/t-bone-walker)[6](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bhist.html). In 1970 Phil met the blues player Ernie Franklin in a music store; Franklin, whose mother was a friend of T-Bone Walker, invited the brothers to see Big Joe Turner at the York club, where the 17-year-old Phil was called up to sing Turner's "Wee Baby Blues" in front of him[6](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bhist.html).
The band later framed this contact as a direct handing down of an American tradition, from Turner and Walker back through earlier generations of blues musicians, with saxophonist Lee Allen and guitarist Marcus Johnson among their mentors[6](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bhist.html) • [2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-blasters-mn0000757177). Guitarist Dave Alvin's lead style drew on [Chuck Berry](https://www.edgepedia.org/chuck-berry), T-Bone Walker, and Lightnin' Hopkins rather than the hot-lick approach typical of rockabilly players[8](https://www.vintageguitar.com/89031/the-blasters/).
## American Music and the Slash years
In 1980 the band approached Ronnie Weiser, a local rockabilly entrepreneur whose Rollin' Rock label recorded what he called authentic rockabilly in his living room and sold it by mail order; its roster already included Ray Campi, Charlie Feathers, and Mac Curtis[6](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bhist.html). The Blasters recorded 22 songs in two days on Weiser's 16-track recorder at a budget of about $2,000. The album *American Music* was pressed in a run of only 4,000 and quickly sold out; the LP later traded for around $100 in collectors' shops[6](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bhist.html).
By 1981 the band had added pianist Gene Taylor and rerecorded material for Slash Records, another Los Angeles independent label, releasing the album *The Blasters* with Warner Bros. handling distribution. The record sold well and featured Dave Alvin's "American Music," "Border Radio," and "Marie Marie" in a bare-bones style[9](https://www.theshfl.com/album/The-Blasters). The lineup grew again into a seven-piece unit with Lee Allen on tenor saxophone and Steve Berlin on baritone saxophone[10](https://ink19.com/2024/12/magazine/music-reviews/vod1zg-the-blasters).
**National exposure.** Members of Queen caught a Blasters show and asked the band to open the western swing of their 1980 U.S. tour, an engagement memorable for hostile crowds; drummer Bill Bateman described beer bottles flying and [Brian May](https://www.edgepedia.org/brian-may) scolding the audience before the marquee was changed to include the opening band[6](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bhist.html). The British rockabilly singer [Shakin' Stevens](https://www.edgepedia.org/shakin-stevens) scored a U.K. hit with "Marie Marie"[6](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bhist.html). The band appeared in the 1984 film *Streets of Fire*, contributing "One Bad Stud" and "Blue Shadows" to the soundtrack[3](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bbioshort.html).
The live EP *Over There*, recorded in London, came out in 1982[7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/blasters). Critic [Robert Christgau](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-christgau), reviewing the band's 1985 New York run, described the Blasters as a roots band whose neobilly format let them play blues, R&B, country, and New Orleans styles for a young audience, and credited Dave Alvin's songwriting on *Non Fiction* (1983) with giving the band a contemporary voice in songs about ordinary working people[11](https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/blasters-85.php).
The final album of the original run, *Hard Line* (1985), was a commercial compromise with radio: Warner Bros. insisted the band produce a hit single, horn-heavy tracks were discarded, Warner-assigned producer Jeff Eyrich displaced Phil Alvin's usual production role, and a John Cougar-assisted single, "Colored Lights," failed to chart[6](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bhist.html). Christgau called it the band's biggest record, a concession in sound if not in spirit[11](https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/blasters-85.php).
## Friction and the split
The brotherly partnership that powered the band also broke it. By 1985 the Blasters' manager had forbidden Phil and Dave from doing interviews together[6](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bhist.html). Gene Taylor left, saying the record company and radio were not going to help the band and that the friction between the brothers detracted from the music[6](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bhist.html). The Washington Post dates the decisive rupture to an onstage argument in Montreal between Dave and Phil, after which Dave Alvin and Gene Taylor walked out[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2002/11/08/blasters-from-the-past/9c065387-5527-4ec4-942e-3d1963ae9c77).
The band gave one more attempt in early 1986, when Dave brought in [Nick Lowe](https://www.edgepedia.org/nick-lowe) to produce a next album. Phil Alvin clashed with Lowe, and the sessions were short, though unreleased tracks of "Brother" and "Fourth of July" with Phil on vocals reportedly survive in a vault[6](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bhist.html). The band's own history page states that in April 1986 Dave Alvin, the main songwriter and lead guitarist, announced he had left[6](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bhist.html); Encyclopedia.com and other accounts date the original band's breakup to 1985[7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/blasters). Phil Alvin contested the significance of the departure, saying the Blasters' sound had little to do with Dave and that the band's musical vocabulary predated his brother's membership[6](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bhist.html).
## After the split
Dave Alvin joined the punk band X, where he briefly replaced Billy Zoom, and its country-styled offshoot the Knitters before launching a solo career as a songwriter[3](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bbioshort.html). His first solo album, *Romeo's Escape* (1987), was produced by Steve Berlin and featured Jerry Angel on drums[3](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bbioshort.html).
Phil Alvin kept versions of the Blasters going, cycling through guitarists including Hollywood Fats ([Michael Mann](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-mann)), Billy Zoom, Smokey Hormel, James Intveld, and Keith Wyatt, with John Bazz remaining on bass; Jerry Angel eventually took over from Bateman on drums[3](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bbioshort.html). Phil Alvin also completed a master's thesis in mathematics in August 1992 while keeping the band on the road[13](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/binter.html), and his first solo album, *Unsung Stories* (1986), featured [Sun Ra](https://www.edgepedia.org/sun-ra) and the Arkestra and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band[14](https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/2f35d5da-8368-4be7-98b3-d6a5ba9c275e/downloads/40c91afa-94b3-430c-a562-028ae59fec91/American%20Music%20_%2025%20%20November%201999.pdf?ver=1758559540334). Phil Alvin's edition of the band finally released a long-promised studio album, *4-11-44*, in 2005, featuring Phil, Bazz, Wyatt, and Angel[15](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/blasters-mn0000757177).
The band's offshoots carried the sound onward. Bill Bateman formed the Red Devils, a blues band that grew directly out of the Blasters' scene[16](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/the-red-devils-story).
## Reunions and legacy
In spring 2002 the original lineup, Dave and Phil Alvin, Bazz, Bateman, and Taylor, reunited for six shows in California, prompted by Rhino's reissue *Testament: The Complete Slash Recordings*; the reunion produced the live album *Trouble Bound* on Hightone Records[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-blasters-mn0000757177) • [7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/blasters). Dave Alvin characterized playing together again as "riding a bicycle, a dysfunctional bicycle, but a bicycle nonetheless," and long-term plans remained open because his solo career was going well and Phil Alvin was protective of his current lineup[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2002/11/08/blasters-from-the-past/9c065387-5527-4ec4-942e-3d1963ae9c77).
The brothers later recorded together on Dave's album *Lost Time* (2015), including "What's Up With Your Brother," reportedly the first song they sang on record together and their first recording together since Dave left the Blasters[17](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Mix-Magazine/10s/Mix-2015-09.pdf).
The band's reputation has grown through covers and screen placements. Their music continues to appear in films and television such as *From Dusk Till Dawn*, *Streets of Fire*, and *Six Feet Under*[1](https://www.aaemusic.com/artist/the-blasters/). In 2025 the four-studio-album box set *An American Music Story: The Complete Studio Recordings 1979-1985*, with a fifth LP of outtakes called *Rare Blasts*, was released for [Record Store Day](https://www.edgepedia.org/record-store-day) in a run of 1,000 hand-numbered sets, the first vinyl reissue of those albums with original cover art since the 1980s[18](https://stephenkpeeples.com/news-and-reviews/the-blasters-an-american-music-story-vinyl-box-rocks-rsd-4-12-25/). Writers place the band among the founding acts of the roots-rock movement of the early 1980s, alongside X and [Los Lobos](https://www.edgepedia.org/los-lobos)[19](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-nov-12-ca-41803-story.html).
## References
1. [The Blasters Artist Profile, AAE Music](https://www.aaemusic.com/artist/the-blasters/)
2. [The Blasters Biography, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-blasters-mn0000757177)
3. [Blasters and Dave Alvin Biography: Short Version, davealvin.com](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bbioshort.html)
4. [Phil and Dave Alvin, Elmore Magazine](https://elmoremagazine.com/2015/01/influences/phil-and-dave-alvin)
5. [Blastin' Off, Pollstar News (2002)](https://news.pollstar.com/2002/10/07/blastin-off/)
6. [The Blasters: A History of American Music, by Billy Davis, davealvin.com](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/bhist.html)
7. [The Blasters, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/blasters)
8. [The Blasters, Vintage Guitar magazine](https://www.vintageguitar.com/89031/the-blasters/)
9. [The Blasters, The SHFL](https://www.theshfl.com/album/The-Blasters)
10. [The Blasters, Ink 19](https://ink19.com/2024/12/magazine/music-reviews/vod1zg-the-blasters)
11. [Robert Christgau: Rockabilly Men, Village Voice (1985)](https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/blasters-85.php)
12. [Blasters From the Past, The Washington Post (2002)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2002/11/08/blasters-from-the-past/9c065387-5527-4ec4-942e-3d1963ae9c77)
13. [Blasters Interviews, davealvin.com](https://www.davealvin.com/blasters/binter.html)
14. [American Music liner notes PDF, November 1999](https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/2f35d5da-8368-4be7-98b3-d6a5ba9c275e/downloads/40c91afa-94b3-430c-a562-028ae59fec91/American%20Music%20_%2025%20%20November%201999.pdf?ver=1758559540334)
15. [The Blasters Biography, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/blasters-mn0000757177)
16. [The Red Devils story, Louder](https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/the-red-devils-story)
17. [Mix Magazine, September 2015, World Radio History](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Mix-Magazine/10s/Mix-2015-09.pdf)
18. [The Blasters: An American Music Story vinyl box, Stephen K. Peeples](https://stephenkpeeples.com/news-and-reviews/the-blasters-an-american-music-story-vinyl-box-rocks-rsd-4-12-25/)
19. [A Blaster From the Past, Los Angeles Times (1998)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-nov-12-ca-41803-story.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Ensembles and groups › Rock, pop, and metal bands › Rock, indie, and pop groups › Rock bands › Blues rock and Southern rock bands*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license